{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said this week that building a border wall in Texas would “cede” territory to Mexico because it would have to be built some distance from the Rio Grande. He also acknowledged the difficulty of building a wall in rugged West Texas, where the river dissects the Chihuahuan Desert, a moonscape of mountains and deep canyons.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly last month said that the wall would “take a multi-layered approach,” with parts of the border security strategy relying on electronic sensors — technology currently employed by the U.S. Border Patrol. He described “parts of the wall that you can actually see,” apparently because in those areas there wouldn’t be a physical barrier.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn told Texas reporters that Trump spoke “metaphorically” when he referred to a border wall. Cornyn said what was needed instead was a combination of infrastructure, technology and personnel.

“You’re going to have some places like Big Bend … where obviously a wall is not necessary and would not be useful,” Cornyn said, referring to the high canyon walls that rise from Rio Grande.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, has also called for a “multi-layered approach” to border security. “I don’t think we need a 2,000-mile wall down there,” McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told PBS after returning from the Rio Grande Valley last month.